Ratings in key demos for the Top 25 original cable telecasts (plus a few other lower-rated but noteworthy programs):

With the biggest COLLEGE FOOTBALL conference championships on the broadcast networks, ESPN’s highest rating for the day was 0.72 for a Pregame broadcast, and 0.67 for a 9AM COLLEGE GAMEDAY. On a very slow night for cable, Nickelodeon’s 11:30AM RABBIDS INVASION was the 3rd highest show of the day at 0.48. The highest-rated adult-oriented original was Adult Swim’s BLACK DYNAMITE, up 0.02 from last week to 0.40. Close behind was the network’s 4:15AM KING STAR KING, at 0.36. Hallmark’s Saturday movie was at 0.39, down a whopping 0.61 from last week’s film. HBO’s BOXING AFTER DARK was at 0.34-0.25 over its various segments, down about a tenth from last week. THE TRANSPORTER (TNT) picked up a tenth to 0.33. THE MISSING (Starz) rose 0.03 to 0.05. On Food Network, PIONEER WOMAN was at 0.23/1.4M, and OUTRAGEOUS CHRISTMAS was at 0.26/1.12M.

College sports controlled 5 of the top 6 slots on Saturday cable, with ESPN’s COLLEGE BOWL games led by the primetime game at 1.72, with afternoon games at 0.92 and 0.63, and COLLEGE BASKETBALL on ESPN2 at 1.08 and 0.41. (Plus another college basketball game at 0.33.) The sports…

About the Author

Mitch Metcalf

MITCH METCALF has been tracking every US film release of over 500 screens (over 2300 movies and counting) since the storied weekend of May 20, 1994, when Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 3 inspired countless aficionados to devote their lives to the art of cinema. Prior to that, he studied Politics and Economics at Princeton in order to prepare for his dream of working in television. He has been Head of West Coast Research at ABC, then moved to NBC in 2000 and became Head of Scheduling for 11 years.